St. Albans Baseball Defeats Capital Behind Solid Pitching

The baseball gods delivered me a solid performance to witness St. Albans-Capital Wednesday night for my first game of the season. Previously, I was scheduled to cover St. Albans twice, but each time the game was cancelled to rain.

 

Red Dragons senior starting pitcher Austin Harless carried a no-hitter into the top of the sixth inning before allowing his first hit to Capital’s No. 8 hitter Brandon Thomas. Harless, then, walked the next batter, as St. Albans held a 3-0 lead.

 

St. Albans coach Rick Whitman removed Harless for Joey Dodrill, who entered to retire the next three batters consecutively and quell the threat.

 

The Red Dragons (9-3) added five more runs in the bottom half of the sixth to create more separation from Capital (5-8). With two outs in the seventh, Dodrill allowed one batter to reach via a wild pitch on a strikeout. Dodrill promptly struck out the next batter, though, to finish the game.

 

It was a stellar, though short outing for Dodrill, who struck out three in two innings. Dodrill had pitched just four innings this season after returning from a strained shoulder injury, Whitman said.

 

Dodrill missed the team’s first four games as St. Albans fell to 1-3. However, the Red Dragons have won eight in a row since Dodrill’s return to the lineup.

 

While it was positive to see Dodrill return, Harless set the tone.

 

“He got in on the hitters hands a couple times and got some weak ground balls, a couple little, lazy pop-ups,” Whitman said of Harless. “He really didn’t get himself in much trouble except for the sixth when we took him out. He goes at the hitters and he’s aggressive in the strike zone. As long as he does that, he’s going to be pretty good.”

 

As Harless worked on the mound, the runs didn’t come easily for St. Albans.

 

The Red Dragons scored their first run via a wild pitch from the hands of Capital starting pitcher Seth Roadcap. Taylor Braley scored from third on the wild pitch after doubling off the left field fence and advancing to third on a wild pitch.

 

St. Albans struck for another run in the home half of the third inning. Lead-off hitter Phoenix Shrewsbury hit a single to right field to start the inning and advanced to second on a fielding error by the right fielder. The next Red Dragons batter popped out before Josh Burks advanced Shrewsbury to third on a groundout. Next, Dodrill walked and Clark Bryant reached via hit-by-pitch to load the bases. Then, Bobby Grishaber scored Shrewsbury with an RBI walk, before Roadcap recovered to get the third out.

 

In the fourth, St. Albans scored another single run. Braley began the inning with a lead-off walk and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Lucas Carfagna. Later, Turley ripped a two-out RBI single to left field to score Braley.

 

Through five complete innings, St. Albans led Capital 3-0.

 

Despite the slow offensive start, Harless said he doesn’t worry about run support while he’s pitching.

 

“I just try not to think about that stuff and go do what I can do out on the field,” he said.

 

Whitman said his hitters maintained their approach and finally connected in the sixth with five runs.

 

“Our hitters and our team has really bought into the plan and the approach that our hitters are taking,” he said. “They’re not swinging at a lot of bad pitches. We make other teams’ pitchers throw a lot of pitches, so we get into their bullpen. Usually, in high school, if you can get into the bullpen, it’s a pretty bid drop-off usually, so I thought our guys weren’t real sharp early on offensively, but they stayed true to the plan as the game went on.”

 

St. Albans sent 10 batters to the plate in the sixth as part of the offensive explosion that began with Harless’ lead-off double. Harless later scored on a pick-off attempt at third for the first run of the inning, while Braley scored the next run on a passed ball. Josh Burks provided the big hit of the inning with a two-run single to left field scoring Carfagna and Shrewsbury. Grishaber ended the scoring with an RBI single to left field, plating Dodrill.

 

By game’s end, every Red Dragons hitter had reached base to contribute to the 8-0 victory.

 

Harless earned the win to move his record to 3-1, while Dodrill notched the two-inning save. Roadcap suffered the loss to fall to 0-2.

 

It was another solid win for St. Albans in what has been a great streak for the Red Dragons. St. Albans will look to make it nine in a row against Parkersburg South on Friday, while Capital will attempt to right the ship at the Chapmanville Tournament.

 

I look forward to covering both teams again this season as there is still much more success and opportunity awaiting these squads.